Puebla's European feel is not typical
PUEBLA, Mexico - Budget travelers craving European ambience may want to consider heading south instead of east. This compact, colorful town 60 miles southeast of Mexico City has done a remarkable job preserving the architecture of its Spanish colonizers. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, Puebla is one of the most European-feeling cities in Mexico, yet this birthplace of the famous mole sauce is also distinctly Mexican.
With magnificent 17th-century churches, cobbled plazas, and intriguing art galleries, Puebla is an eclectic and affordable blend of old and new worlds. With a basic hotel room, two people can sleep, eat, and explore the historic center comfortably on about $75 a day. There’s no need to book midrange hotels in advance (except during festivals like the Day of the Dead in late October). Upon arriving in town on a Friday evening, we found a clean, secure room with purified water, an open-air atrium, free Internet, and continental breakfast for $40 a night in the heart of the city.
Like most Mexican towns, Puebla is organized around the zócalo, or main square, where on weekends a lively jumble of families, balloon-sellers, and musicians congregate. A 17th-century cathedral occupies one side of the square. Shops, hotels, municipal offices, a tourist center, and a half-dozen outdoor cafes ring the other sides. Given Puebla’s year-round mild climate, it is easy to spend the better part of an afternoon at a cafe. But before you consume one too many cocktails, stroll down the pedestrian-only thoroughfare, 5 de Mayo.
If you’ve been to Barcelona, this avenue may remind you of Las Ramblas on a much smaller scale: a wide boulevard crowded with palm trees, souvenir hawkers, street performers, and everywhere the mouth-watering smells of street food, especially fried corn. Walk a few blocks west of the zócalo and the adobe-red Templo de Santo Domingo stands out among its sand- and stone-colored neighbors. With its lovely domed rosary chapel and glisteningly ornate interior, this church is well worth a stop. Take care not to enter when services are in session.
Santo Domingo is a chance for some quiet along this bustling boulevard, where you can buy everything from sneakers and stereos to mouth-watering tacos. On Friday and Saturday nights visitors from Mexico City pack nearby bars and nightclubs. If you’re into party scenes, Puebla’s is reputed to be a good one.
Those seeking a mellower good time should head a few blocks north to the artists’ barrio. Here, in a cluster of pastel-colored, 18th-century houses, you’ll find perhaps a dozen studios that double as galleries. After three blocks, the galleries give way to a more typical, tourist-oriented market - and original art makes way for the sort of mass-produced colorful pottery found in gift shops across the country.
After shopping, settle into another outdoor cafe for comida: the multicourse main meal of the day that Mexicans, like the Spanish, traditionally eat around 2 in the afternoon. Fonda Típica La Poblana in the barrio serves a tasty version of Puebla’s signature mole sauce. While different regions in Mexico put their own spin on this savory chocolate blend, usually served over chicken, the local version (mole poblano) is believed to be the original. Legends abound as to the origins of mole, including one that says a gust of wind blew the pungent mixture of chocolate, chilies, and spices together by accident. Another tale suggests that mole was an ancient Aztec dish, but more credible stories date the pungent sauce to the early days of the Spaniards.
The intersection of European and indigenous cultures here is fascinating. A 20-minute bus ride from the city center will take you to the Great Pyramid of Cholula, one of the largest such structures in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Now overgrown with grass and trees, Cholula’s pyramid looks more like a big, weedy hill than the monument to the ancient deity Quetzalcóatl it is believed to have been.
The bus from Cholula drops you about 20 blocks from Puebla’s zócalo. The walk back takes you through some of the poorer, more congested areas of the city. Every other storefront is an Internet cafe, yet it’s not unusual to see children begging in the doorways or selling chewing gum out of baskets.
Still, for old world charm at new world prices, Puebla is hard to beat.
Alison Lobron can be reached at alison@alisonlobron.com. 